8:14 p.m.: Reggie Jackson just threw out the first pitch of the Home Run Derby to Derek Jeter. Who knew the Home Run Derby had a first pitch? Now Derek is being interviewed by Erin Andrews. As always, Derek is the smartest guy in the place.

8:18 p.m.: Michael Kay is interviewing Reggie Jackson. Mr. October is taking his usual modest, quiet approach to an interview.

This event has been going on for 10 minutes and there has already been a lot of down time in person. But the first hitter is coming up soon.

8:35 p.m.: Wouldn’t it more interesting if they had bums like Kei Igawa and Julian Tavarez pitch and actually try to get people out? There would be even more home runs.

Grady also got six. I’m still not sure whether that is good. I’m going to say no.

8:36 p.m.: They just introduced A-Rod to the crowd as being the top overall vote-getter. The crowd gave him a nice ovation. The fans who voted for him will receive a copy of Desperately Seeking Susan.

8:38 p.m.: A-Rod received two trophies. One for being the top vote-getter in the AL and one for being the top overall vote-getter. Is vote-getter gramatically correct? I have no idea. Does that make Jeter the game’s top babe-getter? Does Cynthia Rodriguez get one of those trophies now? These are questions we need answered.

9:13 p.m.: Justin Morneau hit eight to tie Berkman. Meanwhile MasterCard has a “Hit it Here” sign in left field above the bleachers. Somebody could win $1 million. The only problem is that you couldn’t hit that sign with a howitzer.

Ryan Braun is up next.

9:20 p.m.: Ryan Braun is the man. After a slow start he drilled seven. So he will advance. I spoke to him today for the story I was working on. He’s a very nice kid.

John Sterling should be announcing this so he would have to come up with a wacky call for every player. That would be awesome.

Josh Hamilton is next. Bet he goes double digits. He’s huge.

9:28 p.m.: Hamilton just hit the first ball ever out of Yankee Stadium. It flew over the Bank of America sign in right field. The other players made the “we’re not worthy” gesture. (10:23 p.m.: Hmm, wrong, seems he hit the top of the BoA sign. But pretty close.)

I don’t care who wins. He wins. That was sick.

9:30 p.m.: Seriously, just call it off. He’s going to knock a subway car off the tracks.

9:34 p.m.: This is pretty cool watching this in person. The guy is like Paul Bunyan. The fans are loving it.

9:35 p.m.: You can see why Hamilton was the first pick. He doesn’t swing that hard and the ball flies off his bat.

9:40 p.m.: What a great story this is. The guy was a crack addict and out of baseball, one of the great examples of wasted talent in sports history. But he got himself back together, back in shape and now he’s here doing this – with a 71-year-old guy from his hometown pitching to him.

They might as well call this off. He has 23 (and counting) and the next guy has eight.

9:49 p.m.: Hamilton hit 28 in the first round. Amazing. The crowd was chanting his name. My brother in law Dave, who is here, just texted me, “I can’t believe this.”

That about covers it.

I need to get cracking on a little newspaper work. But I’ll be back later to update the live blog.

10:24 p.m.: OK, back for more live blogging. We’re through the second round. It’ll be Hamilton vs. Morneau in the finals.

Hamilton has a slim 32-17 lead.

10:33 p.m.: This “Call Your Shot” thing is pretty lame. It has sucked the life out of the place.

10:38 p.m.: Morneau is tired. I’m tired and I’m just watching this.

10:48 p.m.: We’re now in the finals. Morneau hit 5. Hamilton has 3 with four outs left. They’re playing Rocky music.

10:51 p.m.: In a stunning upset, Justin Morneau has won the Derby despite hitting half as many homers as Josh Hamilton did. The Texas slugger wore himself out before the finals.